Chapter 38
It's Wen Zhuliu.
He nearly slips on the treacherous steps, steadying himself with a hand on the rough rock wall jutting out adjacent to him, when he sees the two children next to what used to be the Chief Cultivator's body.
"What happened?" He demands, barely able to make himself heard over the rocks still blasting to the ground just a few yards away from them.
"We were playing hide and seek," Xue Yang says, shamelessly letting the lie roll off his tongue and making it sound believable. Years of street smarts make this encounter so much easier.
"We heard a noise," Wei Ying says, letting his bottom lip tremble as if he was distressed. He is, but that's by the by; this is another sticky situation they need to get out of.
Xue Yang throws him a quick thumbs up when Wen Zhuliu turns to look at Wen Ruohan properly. "He must have slipped..."
He's clearly in shock. Anyone would be, because Wen Ruohan is not a pretty sight now.
"On the plus side, I guess you're free now," Xue Yang says, a cunning look dawning in his eyes.
"Maybe you should leave," Wei Ying tells him earnestly. "You could change your name and stay away from the Cultivation world. Maybe find somewhere quiet to live. You wouldn't have to worry about anything, then."
Wen Zhuliu doesn't say anything, sinking down onto the step just above the landing.
"Well, I dunno about you two, but I could use a drink," Xue Yang mutters, pulling out a jar of wine from his qiankun pouch. He unstoppers it with his teeth, but before he can drink from it, Wen Zhuliu snatches it out of his hands and tosses his head back, chugging it all down.
Wei Ying's eyes widen as he sees the mark on the bottom of the jar, and when he looks over to Xue Yang for confirmation that this is one of his spiked jars of wine, from when he had attempted to poison the Jiangs, he gets a cheeky wink instead.
Not even thirty seconds later, Wen Zhuliu slumps on the steps where he's sitting with the wine jar still dangling from his fingertips.
"Well, we should go," Xue Yang says casually, as if they haven't had an active part in killing two of the main bad guys off Lan Zhan's kill list. Like, the top two, most dangerous badasses of all time.
He holds a hand out for Wei Ying to help him up, and they begin the long climb upwards again.
"I really thought he was listening," Wei Ying murmurs. He glances back momentarily, before continuing up the steps.
"Nah, I dunno. How long do you think before some fucker went looking for him? Or he himself decided that he wanted to come back and cause havoc? He's better dead than a question mark. Even from his point of view. He'd end up on the run for the rest of his cursed life, or being blackmailed into doing really bad shit. Honestly, we did him a favour."
Wei Ying throws an incredulous look at him.
They reach the yawning daylight of the open door of Wen Ruohan's bedroom, and then another shadow blocks out the light.
"What the fuck?" Xue Yang exclaims under his breath. "Wasn't this place supposed to be secret?"
"It's me," Lan Zhan calls out.
His voice makes Wei Ying run, straight into his open arms and they hug quietly, both relieved that the other is safe.
Xue Yang lets them have a good five minutes as he potters around the room, picking up items that seem interesting and maybe not putting them back.
"Alright, guys, maybe we should get out of here." He reminds them as they reluctantly part. They're kind of cute, how much they love each other.
Wei Ying quickly explains what happened to them, as they come down the stairs from the upper floors down to the now deserted kitchen. Then, it's Lan Zhan's turn to tell them all about Wen Chao making his father fall and both of them getting covered in Wen Xu's ashes.
"Ah, so no wonder he was up there when we blew a hole in his secret cave," Wei Ying snickers. "You can't make this stuff up!"
"Shufu told me to stay here," Lan Zhan finishes.
Xue Yang rummages around and finds steamed dumplings that he brings over for the three of them to share.
"What's gonna happen now?"
"We have to make sure everyone knows where to find-"
"There you are!" Wen Qing enters the kitchen and sits down with them, eyeing their food hungrily before giving in and taking the one Wei Ying gives her.
While she eats, they take turns telling her what had happened after they split up.
"I guess that only leaves Wen Chao," she says thoughtfully.
"You know, I was hoping we might be able to save him," Wei Ying says quietly. "The bad influences in his life have gone, he no longer has a power-hungry bloodthirsty tyrant for a dad, and a competitive little shit for a brother. If your Mama looked after him, I'm sure he would turn out better than before."
Their speculation is interrupted by Wen Chao's nanny, who is visibly distressed.
"Do you know where Wen-Zhongzhu is?" she asks desperately, wringing her hands and looking around.
The children, all four of them, shake their heads.
"Why don't you have some tea?" Wen Qing offers, pouring her a cup. "What's wrong?"
"I did something terrible," the poor woman says, bursting into tears.
"There, there," Wen Qing rubs her back sympathetically. "It will be okay-"
"No! NO! IT WON'T FUCKING BE OKAY! YOUNG WEN-GONZEI IS DEAD, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF ME!" She shouts, crying even more hysterically.
Three pairs of eyes flicker towards Xue Yang accusingly.
"What? I was with you lot!" Xue Yang mouths at them incredulously.
The other three turn back to the nanny, not fully convinced.
"What happened?" Wen Qing asks her when she's calm enough to speak.
"You know he got all dirty, what with the other Wen-Gonzei's ashes all over him...and so I took him upstairs to his bedroom where someone had already brought up a bathtub. And I got him ready and put him inside it. I just turned away for like, ONE SECOND, and he was under the water. I tried to pull him out, I shook him, but he drowned! Wen-Zhongzhu is going to kill me!" she cries, burying her face in her hands.
"Oh, dear," Wen Qing mutters, and there's a tiny bit of regret overshadowed by the memories of what a dick her cousin was in their past life, as an adult.
But it's not long after that when Lan Qiren rushes back to the kitchens and is immediately relieved to see his young wards safe and sound. He does try his best to listen to the familiar young lady who, when asked what was troubling her, recounted her gruesome story to him as well. Lan Qiren is shocked.
"Today has, indeed, been a heavy day for the Wen Sect," he says simply, cuddling both WangJi and A-Ying in his lap. "Wen Tang Changpu is holding a conference later this afternoon. We are expected to attend, with everyone and the whole household, too." But he does not elaborate, so Wei Ying pushes the plate of dumplings closer to him, and when he doesn't take one, he lifts one up to his mouth. Wei Ying is shocked and half giddy with relief when Lan Qiren actually opens his mouth to eat it.
Lan Zhan hasn't let go of him once, and now as their eyes meet, he squeezes their hands together with a small smile.
So far, everything has gone according to plan, and they have successfully removed all the thorns in Wei Ying's side, from their previous life.
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A/N
Dear Absolutely Fucking Fantastic Readers,
I rarely swear but I think this calls for it!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I've gotten such a fabulous response from all of you that I really am lost for words. The Murder Babies is by no means finished yet, because I love a happy ending and I find them too adorable, so there's definitely more to come, but I just wanted to appreciate all of you and tell you how hard it's been not to respond to your theories and questions for fear of giving away spoilers, (not at all cos I'm such a pantser!! Like literally, all I had to go on was Lan Zhan's dark robes and a request from the brilliant artist about Wei Ying falling off that cliff...so...)
But I can't believe that was way before the 100K you've already read.
I hope you all enjoy some fabulous chocolate and something wonderful happens to you today!
🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫
All my love,
Charlie
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